


Odd Things Like Family

by writteninweakness



Category: Amnesia (Game & Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brothers, Flashbacks, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Overprotective Brothers, part of this was originally posted to tumblr but i no longer have a tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21683776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writteninweakness/pseuds/writteninweakness
Summary: A psychology student working as a waitress has what seems like a simple questionnaire, at least until she starts asking Kent and he explains his unique family situation and his overprotective brothers.Who, incidentally, don't want him going to London.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of Kent and Ikki as brothers. And I love the idea of Waka as an older brother/mentor/father figure to the others, too. I've explored these ideas a few different ways already, but I had to try this one a little, too.
> 
> I had forgotten it among my many AU pieces that needed to be reposted even though I do have an original fic that was sort of inspired by this idea, too.
> 
> Anyway, this first part is kind of introduction to the idea. The second was me attempting to take it and give it plot.

“Excuse me, do you have time to take a short survey?”

Kent stopped, looking up from his book and blinking, wondering if he should actually participate in such a thing given his general opinions on the service and food here were far from favorable. He was joining others or he would not be here at all. This girl, however, with her wide, bright eyes gaping at him behind her glasses somehow seemed… impossible to say no to, and he wasn’t even sure she was his waitress after all.

“I suppose I have a few minutes.”

“Okay, good,” she said, pushing up her glasses and fidgeting with them for long enough for Kent to wonder if she actually intended to ask him a question. “Sorry. I’m not really used to these. I… There was this thing with my dog and…”

Her dog? What relevance was that to anything?

She sniffled. “Um, it’s not important. I just have a few questions. This is for my psychology class, if you don’t mind answering them.”

He considered that. In general, psychology was almost a soft science, even with its statistics to back up some theories. “I must warn you I am likely not your target audience for such a thing.”

She frowned. “Um… I’m just asking some basic questions about families. It’s not too invasive or philosophical. I promise.”

“Very well. Ask your questions.”

“So… um… You’re… um…” She flushed. “I’m sorry. This is a bit rude, but the rest of the questions are pretty general. How old are you?”

Tempted as he was to inquire after her age—she hardly seemed old enough to be in college—he did not. “Twenty-five.”

“Oh. Okay. Um… Sorry. I’m not usually this bad, but between the glasses and the accident, I get some really awful headaches and it’s hard to keep my train of thought plus you keep staring at me like I’m an idiot which really makes me nervous and regret asking you but you were the only one here at the time and I thought if you were reading you might be bored and so you’d have time to answer and—oh, wow. Your frown can get worse. I’ll just go.”

Kent removed his own glasses and rubbed at his nose. “That is unnecessary. You have not shown any true signs of idiocy, just perhaps immaturity as well as obvious nerves. You do not often collect data, do you?”

She shook her head, sitting down across from him. “No, this is my first one that wasn’t from a magazine asking about popular idols. You know, those quizzes that tell you what your dream guy is supposed to be? It’s not the same. I did those with friends. This I have to ask strangers about, and it’s more intimidating than I thought it would be, plus I had a jerk earlier who told me I was trying to look brainy with the glasses, and so now I’m self-conscious about them even if I _do_ need them, and I don’t know why I can’t stop telling you everything that’s spilling out of my mouth—except I’m not really as stupid as that look keeps saying I am, so I feel like I have to defend myself. Yeah. That’s it. I am going now. I don’t need this.”

“If you wish.” Kent started to lift his book and found her still sitting there. “Is something wrong?”

“You… didn’t react to any of that the way I would have expected.”

He shrugged. “I do not see the need to get upset over small matters. Nor do I actually feel you are stupid, though long-winded is a much better descriptor. I have no idea why you would tell me anything, honestly. If you still wish to leave, that is your choice. If you wish to ask your questions, you may. I am not bothered either way.”

She nodded. “All right, then. From the beginning. Are you an only child?”

“Yes.” He answered and then had to add, “And no.”

“What?”

“Genetically speaking, yes. I am the only biological offspring my parents produced. However, due to… certain circumstances, they adopted two other children, and I have both and older and a younger brother. Technically, however, I am still an only child.”

“Oh.” She made a note on her paper. “Then that answers the next one… you are the middle child. Um… And the oldest. That’s confusing, but… I’ll just mark the middle. Okay. Do you feel your parents have bias?”

“This is an actual question on your survey?”

She nodded. “We’re supposed to find out about family dynamics. We’re going to compare it with what everyone says about first, middle, and last children.”

“Ah.” Kent set his book the side. “I suppose it is fair to say that my parents due, in fact, have a bias. For several years, I was their only child. I remain their only child related by blood. And the entire family is… prone to excessive concern over my well-being. It is not to say that my parents do not care for my brothers. They do. It is simply not unknown to any of us that some bias exists because of these things.”

She seemed to frown. “So… everyone accepts this bias and is okay with it?”

“It does not seem to bother my brothers, no. Admittedly, one is unlikely to speak of such matters at all, but the other has no such reservations, and both of them are prone to overprotective actions and sentiments.”

She nodded, making more notes. “Um, well, I… those are all the questions I was supposed to ask. Like I said, not much, but… I’m curious. Do you really think there’s nothing wrong with your parents having an obvious bias towards you over the children they adopted?”

“I find I’d rather not be the one everyone fusses over. My younger brother would fit that role much better. He likes attention. My older brother and I do not.” Kent thought about it some more. “I… I have never felt that my parents neglected any of my brothers’ needs, nor is it fair to say that they give me more of any given thing than the others. It is simply that we are all practical enough people to be aware of the difference.”

She bit her lip, and he thought she was about to ask another question when Ikkyu sat down next to her with a dramatic sigh. “Remind me never to date a friend again, Ken. It always ends so badly and so messy and I swear if we were in a video game or an anime, she’d be a yandere.”

“As I recall, Ikkyu, both Waka and I advised you against trying to date Rika.”

“She was my friend. It was supposed to be okay.”

Kent sighed. “The problem with you, for all that you think you are a reasonable person, is that you assume all women are good and this inevitably ends up disappointing you as you inevitably seem to pick the ones who are only interested in unequal relationships.”

“Careful, Ken. You’re going to make it sound like you hate women.”

“That is an inaccurate fallacy. All I said was that _you_ assumed all women were good.”

“Kent’s right. Your taste in women is quite poor,” Waka said, taking the seat next to Kent. “It has nothing to do with his own opinion on women. You are simply too trusting and always have been.”

“Ouch. Harsh. _Oniisan_ is so mean.”

Waka smiled in amusement.

Kent turned back to the girl with the survey. “If you wish to ask your questions of my brothers, you may find their perspectives interesting as well.”

She glanced at Ikki, who grinned at her, one second away from flirting and then at Waka. “Um...”

“You already have part of the information you need,” Kent pointed out. “Waka is the older brother. He’s twenty-eight. Ikkyu is the younger at twenty-two. Both are also in a similar position as biologically speaking, they are only children, but due to adoption are part of a larger home. I believe you need only ask one more question of either of them.”

“Oh, ask away, my lovely,” Ikkyu said, smiling at her. “I’m always happy to help a pretty girl.”

She glared at him and turned to Waka. “Do you feel your parents are biased towards one of their children in particular?”

Waka nodded. “That is a fair assessment and not unexpected. Kent is their biological child, after all, as well as the one we all worry over.”

“Ken needs a keeper,” Ikkyu said, and Kent tried to resist the urge to hit him with his book.

“I do not.”

“You get more lost in your research than Dad does in his.”

“That is not a quantifiable argument and furthermore—”

“There are other less pleasant reasons for our concern,” Waka said, and Kent swallowed down the unpleasantness even those few words brought up for him. “You need not look so worried. Kent is not ill or contagious. It is simply that Kent’s practical nature doesn’t always extend to taking proper care of himself.”

“Exactly,” Ikkyu said, giving her another smile and getting a glare in return. “Um, can I ask you why you—”

“Thank you for your help with my survey. That’s all the questions I have. I should be going now.”

“Wait,” Ikkyu tried to catch her before she left. “Did I do something to offend you?”

She pushed her glasses up. “Sawa is my best friend.”

Ikkyu winced, and even Kent recognized that name as one of his brother’s more infamous exes. “That’s—it’s a misunderstanding. If she’d just talk to me, I could explain everything—Damn it. She’s gone.”

Kent rose, picking up his book. “Come along, Ikkyu. There is no point lingering here.”

“We didn’t eat.”

“You will only mope and not eat, and the food here is not worth that,” Kent told him, seeing Waka smile again. “And since your next suggestion will be getting something alcoholic, we may as well see to that instead.”

“You’re actually going to drink with me?”

“Not if Waka disappears before you become ‘cuddly,’ no.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys remember the past and fuss over Kent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was me attempting to develop a plot. It didn't go so well.

* * *

“ _Someone’s out there.”_

_Waka nodded, taking a step forward in front of the others. He was not an exceptionally large child, not particularly intimidating, but Kent knew he was not to be underestimated. He swallowed and tried to calm himself. While being terrified had become their daily routine here, he still felt ashamed of how poorly he reacted to every little noise. Ikkyu didn’t jump or flinch like he did, and that boy was three years younger than him._

_Next to him, Ikkyu tried to smile. “It’s fine. You heard Waka. They won’t hurt you again.”_

_Kent nodded, though if he was honest, he never felt reassured by Waka’s promise, not even after seeing what the older boy had done to the men who bullied them. Waka was dangerous. Kent knew that. He’d seen it first hand, when Waka rescued him, but between his eyes and his tendency to speak his mind, Kent was their favored target._

_He had nearly been convinced that the others who succumbed to their poor living conditions—the starvation or the illnesses brought on by the unsanitary conditions—were the “lucky” ones. He only seemed to get himself in trouble before Waka chose—for reasons Kent still didn’t understand—to act and place Kent under his protection._

_Still, the voices outside their room made him tense, and he couldn’t relax despite Ikkyu’s urging. He knew if anyone came back, he would not be the only one hurt. He could distract them from Ikkyu most of the time, but no one would spare Waka after what he did to those men._

“ _This is different,” Waka said, and Kent frowned. “There’s a woman here. She seems quite angry.”_

_Kent followed Ikkyu to the crack in the wall where they observed the rest of the orphanage. They used to keep Waka in isolation in this room, but Waka didn’t seem to consider it a punishment and willingly returned here after breaking out to help Kent._

“ _She’s cute,” Ikkyu said, and Kent shook his head as the younger boy laughed. “What? She’s like the heroine in—”_

“ _No.”_

“ _Oh, come on, Ken. Just because you never read a lot of comics when you were younger—Wait, what are you doing?”_

“ _It’s not possible,” Kent said as he yanked the door open. Waka grabbed him to hold him back, but Kent pushed against his hold. “Mother?”_

_She stopped, frowning, and Kent thought he must be hallucinating. His parents were dead. They told him that. He was at the orphanage because his parents were dead._

_And yet…_

“ _Kent,” she breathed out, rushing toward him and looking almost nothing like the always calm lawyer he remembered her being. She took hold of him and hugged him fiercely.“Kenchi-kun.”_

“ _What?” His reaction made Ikkyu laugh, though Waka was frowning. “Since when am I Kenchi-kun?”_

_She continued to embrace him, and he thought if she tightened her grip any, he’d be unable to breathe. “Since you disappeared and we thought you were dead. It created confusing instincts in both of us. It does bear further assessment, yet it would seem the irrational insistence we both shared was not so irrational after all. You are not dead.”_

“ _Nor are you.” He said, still uncertain how he had come to be in this place if she was not. “It is an orphanage, but you… are alive. And Father, too? This… defies expected reality.”_

“ _Perceived reality is variable based on the information given,” she reminded him, combing through his hair with what looked very much like tears in her eyes. “You know this.”_

“ _Ah. Bias. Yes.”_

“ _Okay, Waka, I think you can relax. That has got to be Ken’s mom,” Ikkyu said, laughing. Kent frowned over at him, but Ikkyu just grinned._

“ _Mizutani-sama?” A man asked, coming closer and stopping short when he saw Waka. “I… The captain wants a word with you.”_

“ _Mother?”_

_She touched Kent’s head. “Where are the paramedics? I want them to look over my son before I speak to the captain.”_

“ _You really shouldn’t keep him—”_

“ _I am not leaving my son. My son and these other boys need medical attention. If you try and argue with me again, I will file several charges against you as well as a civil suit for all the money you have. I know it is not much, but I do not care. You are not separating me from my son. Is that understood?”_

_The man gulped and rushed away. His mother sagged against him, and he could feel her fatigue. “It was irrational. I know that. I could not rest until I had seen to the arrest and seizure of everyone in their organization and their assets. They took my son from me. I could not let that be.”_

_Kent looked up at her, feeling again that this could not be real. “Is Father…?”_

_Alive? Working? Here? Kent didn’t even know what to ask._

“ _I think he will finally have a reason to stop trying to solve the impossible,” she whispered. Then she forced a smile. “Ah. I almost forgot. Introduce me to your friends?”_

* * *

“Is this a lost in many calculations fugue or a lost in the past fugue?” Ikki asked, giving Ken’s shoulder a nudge. The other man jumped and almost fell out of his chair, which was answer enough. Waka glared at him, and Ikki winced. As far as overprotective big brothers went, they’d accidentally hit the jackpot with that one. Between his glare and his ninja stealth, Waka was scary as hell.

Not that Ikki liked to admit that. He did his best to pretend he wasn’t afraid of his brother at all.

Kent put a hand to his head. “What are you two doing here?”

“You really have to ask? Ken, you haven’t been home in three days. Big presentation or not, you need to sleep. And shower. And I could try and talk you into that, but I’d rather let Waka handle it because… well...”

Kent shook his head. “It has not been three days. You have to stop exaggerating. And my parents need to stop fussing every time I am out of sight for more than eight hours. This is ridiculous.”

“I don’t know. Their only biological son getting kidnapped by a low level yakuza ring, I think that would make any set of parents a _little_ paranoid,” Ikki said, shrugging. Ken glared at him, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t true. Those bastards had gone after Ken thinking they could make Ayeka back down, but she got angry instead. Most of them were still serving time now. “Hey, it’s not like I said you were danger prone or anything. You only got kidnapped once, right?”

Ken’s glare just got stronger, since it was actually _twice,_ and he couldn’t deny it. That time it was about some of Daichi’s research, and Kent _had_ been older then. He just also happened to look a lot like Daichi had when he was younger, so it was almost an honest mistake—though it wasn’t like anyone could call an abduction an accident.

“Ikki,” Waka said, and he tried for an apologetic smile. Big brother was still kind of sensitive about that, too, since he hadn’t been there to stop it. He adjusted his glasses. “While Ikki is prone to hyperbole, it is also true you’ve been too focused on your presentation to notice anything else. You haven’t been home. You are clearly not eating or sleeping, and if you are experiencing fugues again—”

“I’m fine. A bit tired, but neither of you need to fuss. And I am quite tired of all of you thinking I cannot survive London on my own.”

Ikki had a feeling that they were actually right about that. Ken and Daichi were both pretty bad when it came to research preoccupying them enough to cause trouble. Forgetting to eat and not sleeping were only a part of it. “That’s why we have to marry you off before you go. You need a keeper.”

“Not funny, Ikkyu.”

“An assistant, then. We’ll hire you one. Otherwise you know Waka’s going to have to come and watch over you.”

“Waka has his own life. And I do not need an assistant, a keeper, or a babysitter. I will manage on my own.” Ken’s speech fell a little flat as he took a step and almost fell, his legs clearly not ready for him to put weight on them. If Waka wasn’t as fast he was, Ken would be on the floor now. He sighed. “That is not actually proof of anything.”

“It proves it’s time for you to go home.”

“Oh, very well. If it will stop your incessant fussing.”

* * *

“I’m not kidding about finding him someone to go with him to London.”

Waka almost laughed as he joined Ikki at the doorway to Kent’s room. He had, unsurprisingly, gone straight to sleep as soon as he sat down on his bed. Kent tended to push himself to the limits of his stamina and then some when he was working, and it was often difficult to say if it was simply preoccupation or avoidance.

Kent had experienced the worst of what those men were capable of back at the orphanage, and his only real method of dealing with that was to ignore it and focus on other things. That worked for nearly everything except sleep, when Kent’s mental walls were down and his mind returned to the worst time in all of their lives.

“I know he wants to be independent, and he even… needs it. Maybe we do, too, but I don’t know… are you really going to be able to let him go on his own? You watch over him more than I do. You always have.”

Waka had been leverage against his yazuka parents. The fear of reprisal had kept most of them from touching him. He was left in isolation, not that he cared, since it was little different from being home. At least not before he started hearing the screams of the other children. Though all of their cries had angered him, Kent’s were the ones that still echoed in his head. Their captors had singled him out—part because of Ayeka’s actions, part because his intelligence and blunt responses infuriated them. They saw defiance that had to be crushed as a lesson to the others—Ikki in particular—and did everything they could short of killing him.

For his part, Waka had not shared that kind of restraint. Though they had not escaped, he had seen to it that the worst offenders never harmed anyone again. That left Waka responsible for the younger boys, a role he accepted and preferred over his biological parents’ plans for him. He felt no loyalty towards those people. His family was here, in this house.

“Kent is an adult. To ignore that is a disservice to us both, even if your claims about him being ‘danger prone’ are more accurate than he wants to admit.”

Ikki nodded. “I don’t… every time I think about him going to London, I have a bad feeling about it. And I keep trying to tell myself I’m just being paranoid, that I’m childish and don’t want my brother that far away, but… I don’t know that it’s just that. I know you both think my judgment sucks when it comes to women, and I can’t deny I’ve trusted some I shouldn’t, but that feeling… I had it before. I had it the day my parents died. I can’t shake it, Waka. Something bad is going to happen if Ken goes to London.”

Waka had a similar instinct. He felt part of it was the knowledge that if something did happen to Kent, none of them would be close enough to help, but more than that, Waka felt certain if Kent left for London, none of them would see him again.

“I knew it. So what are we going to do?”

“You can’t stop Kent from going if he chooses to go.”

“So… we find a way to convince him not to go?”

Waka allowed himself a small smile. “That is incredibly unlikely, Ikki. Nothing we have said thus far has persuaded him against it, nor would it, as these fears appear groundless. You’d need a very good reason for him to stay.”

“We can find one of those.”

“Ikki—”

“Trust me. It’ll be good.”


End file.
